The bar soap holders commonly used today are known as bar soap dishes. These dishes are made of various materials including plastic, metal, stone, synthetic, ceramic and glass, and support the bar soap on a generally flat or concave surface. A long existing problem associated with the bar soap dish is that it collects soap water every time a wet bar soap is placed back into the dish. When the bar soap is left to sit in the soap water, it becomes soft and messy, resulting in much wasted soap and requires time and effort for frequent cleaning of the soap dish.
Some soap dish designs have tried to solve the above mentioned problem by using a wire soap dish design. This involves supporting the bar soap on a wire grid. However, the wires tend to cut into the soft surface of the bar soap, removing soap from the bar, and these wires also require frequent cleaning, due to soap build up on the wire grid.
Other soap dish designs have also tried to solve the above mentioned problem by supporting the bar soap on a plastic or nylon bed of bristles. However, these bristles end up being pushed into the soft surface of the bar soap, removing soap from the bar, and these bristles also require frequent cleaning, due to soap build up on the bristles.